


Familiar

by unsettled



Category: Sherlock Holmes (Downey films)
Genre: Gen, M/M, kitty!Coward
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-26
Updated: 2013-12-26
Packaged: 2018-01-06 04:25:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1102377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unsettled/pseuds/unsettled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's not really an animal person.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Familiar

**Author's Note:**

> Have some kitty!Coward. I REGRET NOTHING.

He's not really an animal person, which is why he regards the medium sized black cat with a faintly suspicious air. He's not sure what to expect from it, to be honest, despite having picked up a bit of basic knowledge. But the concept of a familiar is a compelling one, especially with the amount of energy he's planned to expend in the near future. 

It pokes its nose out from the box he carried it home in, regards him with greenish gold eyes. He waits, considering. 

*

Officially, should anyone ask, its name is Nicholas. But Blackwood finds himself referring to it far more frequently as 'Coward', due to its habit of fleeing in terror at the any loud noise or sudden movement. 

It's a terrible choice for a familiar, but Blackwood finds himself oddly reluctant to dispose of it and start anew. 

*

He doesn't mean to get attached to the stupid thing. After all, as a familiar there's a very high likelihood he'll have to use the energy he's storing in it in a most … destructive way, or set the flow back to it rather than himself. It's disposable. 

But he finds a certain comfort in the warm, purring weight of it on his lap in the evenings, in the way it will bat at him impatiently if he gets lost enough in his reading to cease petting it, in the haughty glare it gives him when he returns that says, clearer than any waiting at the door, that he was missed. 

*

When the power flares, bounces back up and sizzles back towards him, he hesitates a second too long before redirecting it to the cat, long enough that he gets a shock all the same, enough to make his arm go numb from shoulder to finger tips. He turns, expecting to see a pile of ashes where his familiar once was, but find it blinking back at him, apparently unconcerned. 

He tries to pretend he's not as relieved as he is. 

*

He wakes to warmth. 

Warmth, and pressure at his side, faint movement that he takes a moment to recognize as _someone else_. 

He does recognize it, though, and as soon as he does, his eyes fly open and he jerks around. There's a man next to him, a man who was headbutting him in the side, a man he does not recognize even a little bit, dark hair and pale skin and greenish eyes. A man who stares at him, eyes distressingly large, like he knows Blackwood somehow, like there is nothing at all wrong with this situation. 

Blackwood yelps, and shoves him away. Almost shoves himself right off the edge of the bed, in fact. "Who are you?" he demands. 

The man blinks at him, but doesn't reply. 

"Answer me!" he says, sharply. "Who are you? How did you get in here? What are you _doing_?" The man remains silent, but drops his head back onto the bed in apparent disinterest before stretching, rolling over on his back and arching his back with a sinuous quality of movement that leaves Blackwood dry mouthed. He stares, and sudden;y realized the other man isn't wearing anything. 

Anything. 

He swallows and turns away, quickly. This is quite beyond strange, beyond frightfully bizarre. 

His foot knocks into something as he moves, something light that makes a faint metallic sound. He leans over, picks it up, and stares. It's Coward's collar, a slim leather thing with a tag, that's snapped along one side, a clean cut. There's a thought, floating through his mind. "Oh, god," he breathes. Takes a second to try and ignore the thought, and then, hesitantly, softly, says, "Nicholas?"

There's no response. 

He takes a deep breath, and tries again. "Coward?" 

There's an inquisitive sound, and a rustle of sheets behind him; when he turns, the man – Coward – is inches away from him, head tilted almost comically. 

"Oh, no," Blackwood says.


End file.
